


Cosmetology: A Prerequisite for Friendship?

by DontOffendTheBees



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Amanda is shaped like a friend, Angst, Cute, Dirk is a smol bean who needs friends, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hair Braiding, Introspection, slightly implied Brotzly if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 11:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10411260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontOffendTheBees/pseuds/DontOffendTheBees
Summary: Dirk would never pass up an opportunity to partake in a traditional friendship bonding exercise. Even if he has absolutely no idea how hair works.Short, fluffy (and yet slightly angsty 'cause I'm terrible) Dirk & Amanda friendship fic, based on a tumblr prompt from aceabed





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! 
> 
> So for the last week I have been /desperate/ to write fic for this fab show but had no plot inspiration- fortunately, aceabed on tumblr hooked me up with the cutest prompt to ever prompt- Dirk (attempting) to plait Amanda's hair. Fluff ensued (and so did a lil bit of introspective angst because Dirk is a smol bean who's been friend-starved too long). Hope you like!

“Dirk?”

Dirk blinked, breaking the staring contest with his fumbling hands. He looked up to meet Amanda’s eyes- or rather, the back of her head. “Hm?”

“You okay, there?” she asked, turning her head slightly- though not enough to dislodge her hair from his hands. “You went quiet. It’s kinda freaky on you.”

Aware that she could now see him, he immediately summoned up his breeziest smile. It fell short of its desired effect- her eyebrow quirked up in a suspicious manner and she didn’t turn away. He averted his gaze bashfully, fiddling with her hair in the manner of a man who’s brain has accepted defeat but who’s body plugs wearily on, uncaring of anything it’s silly brain has to say on the matter. “Well,” he said, voice pitched a little too high. “In all honesty, I think I may have got a little…” he frowned at her twisted locks, brows drawing together. “…Tangled.”

She rolled her eyes. She bore a striking similarity to Todd when she did that. “Okay, where exactly did you get lost?”

He looked down at the tangle in his hands. It rather resembled a botched cat’s cradle. “…middle?”

She frowned. “It’s the same all the way down, Dirk. Right over, left over, repeat ‘til you run out of hair.”

His eyes widened. “Is _that_ how you do it?”

“Dirk, have you ever braided anything in your life?” she said, voice toeing the line between amusement and exasperation.

“It… hasn’t come up in any cases.”

She reached back to smack his shoulder. Unlike her brother in one of his ‘stop-breaking-into-my-house’ moods, she kept it firmly on the side of playful rather than painful. “Geez, man, why didn’t you say so?”

He gazed down at the mess he’d made of her hair mournfully. “You asked me to plait your hair. It would have been rude to refuse. I thought I’d figure it out, but either the universe doesn’t concern itself with cosmetology or you were fated to leave this encounter with a bird’s nest on your head.”

She sighed, reaching back to start unpicking his work with her fingers. “I could have told you how to do it from the start, y’know.”

“…Yes. That would have been sensible.”

He didn’t realise he was still gazing at her hair with a heartbroken expression until she turned a concerned frown on him. “You okay?”

He smiled. It didn’t quite reach his eyes. It felt ridiculous to admit how guilty the little failure made him feel. This was a friend thing to do, right? Plait each other’s hair. Probably everyone in the world knew how to do it. They probably had entire hair-plaiting parties, where people formed bonds and started in-jokes. He’d never been in on one of those before. Probably never would be, if hair-plaiting was a requirement. Was it a requirement? Who would he ask such a thing? He was still too embarrassed about his recent failure to ask Amanda. Maybe Todd? He must have plaited his sister’s hair at some point…

He was snapped out of his inner monologue by a finger tapping his knee. He blinked and looked up. Amanda had got the last tangles out of her hair, and was holding a thin strand out in front of her. She smiled when she had his full attention, and proceeded to split the strand into three.

“Watch carefully,” she said, taking one side strand and folding it neatly over the middle one. “There’ll be a test.”

* * *

When Todd got home, he wasn’t at all surprised to find that both Dirk _and_ Amanda had apparently broken into his apartment and were curled up companionably on his couch. What they were both doing was a little more startling. “Dirk?”

Dirk looked up, familiar grin in place, right underneath three unfamiliar tiny braids in his hair. “Todd!” he exclaimed, gesturing excitedly to Amanda’s head. “Look what I learned how to do!”

The statement didn’t so much answer Todd’s unspoken question as raise about a million more. But truth be told he was very tired, and Amanda’s hair did look very nice. “That’s great, Dirk. Good job.”

The sunny smile Dirk gave him in return was worth the confusion.

**Author's Note:**

> That's that!
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this (although I did so in the space of like an hour or less, so excuse any mistakes xD). Hope it wasn't too OOC!
> 
> I really wanna get involved in the fandom as much as I can given that I've also got hella college work on my hands, so if anyone else has any little prompts or plot bunnies they wanna see written please send 'em my way (especially if they're Brotzly <3)! And if not, I sure wouldn't say no to a nice comment if you got one going spare ^_^
> 
> Thanks for reading, kiddos! X


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